


Staying the Night

by VenomQuill



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, Happy Thanksgiving have some Stangst, It's mostly here though, Never-to-be-finished WIP, Post "Weirdmaggedon 3: Take Back the Falls"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2019-02-06 00:26:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12805614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenomQuill/pseuds/VenomQuill
Summary: Stanley has spontaneously run away from home. It's up to Mabel--who's still recovering her memories--and Dipper--both in Gravity Falls--as well as Stanford to bring him back. Do they trulywishto go back?Set in Relativity Falls~





	Staying the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Find it on dA: http://fav.me/dbum2sp

Sunlight, warm and bright, filtered in through the dusted windows of the Mystery Shack. Grauntie Mabel led her last tour group through the museum. She stopped by a centaur woman wearing a dress and wielding a wand. Fairy wings popped out of her back and a spiral horn burst from her forehead. “Part fairy princess, part unicorn princess, behold! The unicorn fairy princess!” The crowd oohed and started taking pictures.

Mabel’s phone, on silent, lit up in her pocket. Mabel, not noticing this phenomenon, went on to give prices to people who wanted to take their photo with the crafted entity. The phone’s light dimmed and then shut off when the call was missed.

“And that’s the end of the tour, folks.” Mabel stopped by the exit to the gift shop. “Gift shop is through here. Look about! Buy a souvenir!”

“ _Mabel!_ ” Dipper’s voice came from deeper in the house, Dipper’s room most likely. “Come on!”

Mabel looked back and then opened the door to the gift shop. “You have a great day! Thanks for visiting the Mystery Shack!” She turned and ran off before the crowd was halfway to the door. Dipper met her in the hall. “Dipper! What’s wrong?”

Dipper held out his phone. “The boys couldn’t reach you and they really need to talk to you.”

Mabel gently took the phone from him. “Hey, this is Master Mabel! Who’m I talking to?”

“Grauntie Mabel?” Stanley’s voice, quite small, came from the other end.

Grauntie Mabel lost her smile. “Hey, Lee! What’s wrong?”

Stanley sniffled. There was a small shuffle. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“What did you want to talk about, Hun-bun?”

There was a short moment of silence. “H-how are you and Grunkle Dipper doing?”

“Oh, wonderful! I’ve remembered how to do most of my tour routine! Dipper’s learning how to cook. How are you and Ford? Did you get any more of that scrapbook done?”

Stanley whimpered something and then burst into tears.

“Oh no! I’m so s–what’s wrong?” Grauntie Mabel stammered. She sent a hopeless glance at Dipper, who stared right back. _Oh God, what happened? She wasn’t forgetting anything terrible about scrapbooking, was she?_

Stanley’s voice was hitched by hiccups and sniffles. “D-Dad took away th-the scrapbook y-you gave me.”

“Why would he do that?” Grauntie Mabel prompted.

Stanley’s voice just got worse. “H-he said th-that scrapb-books like that w-were for g-g-girls a-and I-I-I c-couldn’t-” he cut himself off as he realized his words were becoming incomprehensible.

Grauntie Mabel’s heart hurt. “Oh, baby… That’s just not right. Scrapbooking is for remembering things you want to remember. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. Where are you?”

Stanley choked out something that resembled “beach”.

“The beach?” Grauntie Mabel echoed. “Like, Glass Shard Beach? Is your brother with you?”

The phone moved, like Stanley was shaking his head. “No.”

“You’re alone?” Grauntie Mabel put down the panic in her voice.

“Y-yeah.”

Grunkle Dipper bit his tongue to keep from speaking. Grauntie Mabel gave him a small nod. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Real dark. I-I’m kinda scared. I’ve never been out here at night. O-or alone.” Stanley’s whimpering began anew and soon enough he stopped talking.

Grauntie Mabel tensed. “Okay, okay. Shhh, it’s okay, Stanley. Listen to me. Can you understand me?”

“Y-yeah,” Stanley sniffled.

“Okay. I need you to call the police. Do you know how?”

“Y-yeah. Nine-one-one.”

“Yes! Very good! Okay, now, I want you to call the police and tell them where you are, okay? They’ll take you back and keep you nice and safe.”

“I-I don’t wanna go home,” Stanley hiccupped.

Grauntie Mabel bit her lip. “I understand, Hun-bun. You don’t have to. But I don’t want you out there all alone. Okay? Dipper and I love you very, very much. Ford does, too.”

 

Stanley curled up tighter. Moonlight filtered in through holes and cracks in the hull of the sailboat. Waves of the ocean hissed and washed over the sand and the tapped the back edge of their broken sailboat. No one else was within the old sailboat. It was just him. It was just the scared, thirteen-year-old boy clutching his mother’s phone.

Grauntie Mabel was becoming very worried. Regret tugged at him. He didn’t want Grauntie Mable hurt or worried. He didn’t want Grunkle Dipper hurt or worried. He loved them. He didn’t want to be huddled up in their old sailboat, alone and in the dark with only the full moon’s light to give him light. He wanted to be inside. He wanted to be going over his scrapbook with his parents. He wanted Ford next to him, laughing and correcting him. He wanted Gompers tearing at the hem of his pants legs. He wanted the hot, overly sweet, glittery cocoa in a kitten mug. He wanted to see Waddles, snoring in the deep of his old pig sleep. He wanted to see Fiddleford trying to balance drinking hot cocoa with getting his hair out of his face as the steam would pull it down. He wanted to listen to Grauntie Mabel’s infectious laughter. He wanted to Grunkle Dipper smiling and telling a really, really bad joke that was only funny because it was horrible and because he forgot the order and told the punchline first. He wanted to go _home._

“I-I love you,” Stanley hiccupped, sputtering a bit as his tears got in his mouth. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt, spreading tears and snot over his sleeve.

“I love you, too, Hun-bun. I just want to see you safe.”

Grauntie Mabel always wanted to make sure he was safe. She always made sure he was okay. Being okay didn’t necessarily mean being happy. Being okay meant not being hurt, meant being good, meant being out of trouble. But being okay was a requirement in being happy.

Stanley heard ringing on Mabel’s side. “Dipper, could you get that, please?”

Dipper said something Stanley couldn’t understand.

Stanley bit his tongue. Oh no. That was his father. It _had_ to be. His father was going to tell Grauntie Mabel that Stanley ran off and then she’d be mad at him, too. “I-I’ve gotta go. I love you.” Stanley squeaked before hastily shutting off the phone.

Stanley stuck his head in his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs. The phone fell out of his grasp and onto the sandy planks below his feet. The phone rang. Stanley didn’t answer it. The phone dimmed as the call didn’t go through. A few seconds passed and the phone rang again. It dimmed. It rang a third time.

Something knocked on the wood of their project. Stanley nearly jumped out of his skin. “G-get lost!” he barked, his voice still heavy and whimpering. Stanford ducked inside, his wide eyes gaining the reflection of the moon. Stanley relaxed instantly. “F-Ford?”

Stanford immediately wrapped his arms around him in a hug. “Oh my God, Lee! I-I thought you got eaten by sharks or something!”

Stanley, shivering, hugged him back. “N-nah, bro. I-I’d punch a sh-shark in the face b-b-before it could try an’ eat me.”

Stanford wasn’t too steady himself and the dampness of fear-borne tears smudged against Stanley’s cheek.

“Why’d you leave?” Stanford whined.

“I-I’m sorry.” Stanley shut his eyes. “I-I-I’m real sorry.”

The phone rang again. Stanford let go of Stanley with one hand and picked up the phone. “H-huh?”

“Lee? Oh my God–are you okay?” Grauntie Mabel burst out.

“Yeah,” Stanford answered. “I-I found him. He’s okay. He didn’t get eaten by sharks.”

“Ford! Thank goodness you have each other, huh? Can you tell me what happened?”

Stanford looked down at his brother. Stanley set his forehead on his knees again. “Well, we’d finished eating dinner a little while ago. We were telling stories about what we did in Gravity Falls. Stanley pulled out this scrapbook. The ‘Summer Memories’ one. He said you gave it to him, but he added a bunch of things after you. He and Dad got in a really bad argument over it.” Stanford winced. He could still hear their screaming. Stanley both being bold and terrified at the same time. Their father being aggressive and furious for way more than one reason. Their mother trying to get between the two of them, her voice raised to make it a third.

“Did he hurt you?”

“Huh?” Stanford snapped out of his thoughts by the question.

Grauntie Mabel repeated herself, her voice calm. “Did he hurt you?”

“W-well…” Stanford rubbed his arm and looked at Stanley. He still wasn’t looking up. “No.”

There was a pause after his words. She was trying to find his well-rehearsed, well-hidden lie. “It’s okay, Hun-bun. You don’t have to worry anymore. Where are you?”

“We’re on the beach,” Stanford answered unhelpfully.

_Baaaa!_

Stanford jumped and looked back. Gompers hopped into their little space and demanded Stanford’s attention. “H-hey, Gompers. Gompers found us.” Stanford ruffled Gompers’ fur.

“Aw! He loves you, too!” Grauntie Mabel accused, her tone light, a smile in her words.

“Yeah.” Stanford petted Gompers. Gompers nibbled at Stanley’s pant leg. The boy, trying to hide his sniffling and put down the hiccups that would catch on his words, petted Gompers, too.

“Do you want me to come over there?”

“H-huh?” Stanford furrowed his eyebrows.

“Do you want me to come over there?” Mabel repeated in a patient voice. “Dipper and I can if you want.”

“Y-you don’t have to,” Stanford tried meekly.

There was a short hesitation before Mabel chuckled. “You just hate making things easy on me, don’t you? Do you know how hard it is going to convince my brother to let me come over there if you don’t tell him I can? He won’t even let me drive the RV!”

Stanley made a sad noise that resembled a laugh. He wiped his eyes with his dirty sleeve, only making the mess worse. “But Grauntie, we’re not supposed t-to be easy!”

“I know that, you little rapscallion!” Grauntie Mabel teased. “Now, tell Dipper I can go over there because I have a really special something I want to show you.”

Stanley perked up. “Really?”

“Oh, totally! But! You have to tell Dipper to bring me over there, first,” Grauntie Mabel warned. They could hear the grin in her voice.

Stanford looked at Stanley. “Well… I guess.”

The phone shifted. “Hello?” Grunkle Dipper’s voice came through the receiver.

“Hey, Grunkle Dipper!” the boys piped up. Stanford smiled as he watched Stanley steadily slip out of his cocoon.

“Now, what was Marbles telling me about?” Grunkle Dipper prompted. “Some sort of epic road trip?”

Stanley nodded. Stanford agreed, “Yeah! She said she wanted to come over here.”

“Oh? What do you boys say?”

“Duh!” Stanley piped up. “Only if you come, too!”

“Hmm… only if I come…” There was a slight pause. “I dunno… that might be hard. But… I guess if it’s for you two, I’ll go.”

Stanford grinned. _For us!_ Stanley sniffled. “Th-thanks, Grunkle Dipper.”

“Don’t thank me. It’s Marbles that came up with it.” Dipper’s voice paused as they heard Grauntie Mabel in the background. “It’s my turn to talk to them, you already had your turn. … Mabel! Come on!”

There was a bit of scuffle. Grauntie Mabel laughed, “Catch me first, sucker!” A door shut. Then, out of breath, Grauntie Mabel chuckled, “I locked Dipper out of my room.”

Stanford laughed. “Grauntie!”

“I can’t do that,” Stanley agreed. “So, you can’t either!”

“True, true. You have a point,” Grauntie Mabel agreed. “But, counter-point, we live in different bedrooms. And I’m older. Alpha twin! Alpha twin! Alpha twin!”

Grunkle Dipper groaned from the other side of the door.

Eventually, as they continued to talk and laugh, Stanley come out of his funk and the two boys cheerfully contributed to the conversation. Grauntie Mabel unlocked the door and let Grunkle Dipper into the conversation. Once, Gompers tried eating the phone. So, in reciprocation, Grauntie Mabel brought out Waddles, who oinked into the receiver.

They were so caught up in the conversation that the boys didn’t notice large footsteps on the ten o’clock at night beach. A dog scratched at the sand outside and sniffed the plants. The boys jumped and yelped as a knock came to the side of the sailboat. Stanford dropped the phone he held. Gompers bleated and hid in Stanford’s lap.

“Hello?” a feminine voice, light but bold with age and status, came from the other side of the broken, salt-worn planks.

Stanley sat up straight. “Wh-who’s there?”

“It’s the police. We’re here to help you,” the woman answered.

Stanley tensed. “Uh… uh, w-we’re fine.”

“It’s mighty dark out,” she pointed out, her voice tinged with concern. “You’re family’s pretty worried about you.”

Stanford couldn’t help but pipe up, “We’re talking with them. They said they’d come here.”

“Your great aunt and uncle?” the woman guessed.

Stanley nodded. “Yeah! So, uh, we’re good.”

“Hmm… well, it was difficult finding you,” the policewoman pointed out. “They’ll have trouble, too. Why don’t you come with us? We’ll make sure you’re nice and safe. Are you hungry?”

Stanley shifted his feet. Okay, so, maybe he was a bit hungry… and it was kinda scary out… “W-we’re not going back home?”

“Not right now,” the policewoman assured him.

Stanley looked at Gompers. “Can we bring Gompers? My brother’s goat?”

“Of course. Gompers is welcome to come along. We don’t want him out alone, either.”

Stanford gulped and nodded. “Y-yeah. Okay.”

“Oh, good! Come, now. Let’s not stay here too long.”

Stanley forced himself to his feet, groaning at the soreness in his limbs. Stanford stood up at well and held onto Stanley’s hand. “Th-the police are here, Grauntie Mabel. We’re going back with them.”

“Oh good.” They could hear the relief in her voice. “You wait there for us, okay? We’ll be right over. Call us whenever you want.”

“Okay, Grauntie.” Stanford stayed on the phone a little longer, even as they met the policewoman and walked down the beach. A German shepherd in a vest walked by them, head up and tail wagging slowly back and forth. The policewoman with them waved down a few other officers that had spread out over the beach. By the time they got into the police car, the boys had said their good-byes and good-nights and hung up. Stanford clutched Gompers in his lap and held onto his brother’s hand. Stanley kept a tight grip on Stanford’s hand.

 

That night, they stayed at the police station. They got a change of clothes and both of them cleaned up. As they waited, they were given a few sandwiches to munch on as well as some juice. They even provided some lettuce for Gompers, which made him very happy. Full and warm and calm, the boys were soon fast asleep.

Child services took over and held onto them for a few days. Stanford refused to let go of Gompers. Even if they somehow got separated, Gompers would find him again. Twice, the goat found himself inside of the bathroom.

Grauntie Mabel and Grunkle Dipper appeared two days later.

Stanley, who’d been kicking his feet and watching Stanford draw, noticed their sparkly great aunt and nervous great uncle first. “Grauntie Mabel! Grunkle Dipper!” Stanley cried and hopped off the seat. Stanford jumped and looked up. A giant grin spread across his features. Grauntie Mabel hardly had time to get down on one knee by the time she was pounced upon. Gompers bleated and head-butted her side. Grunkle Dipper smiled down at them before walking off to find a person in charge.

“Oh, my little munchkins! You’re alright,” she cooed and kissed their foreheads and ruffled their curly hair.

“’Course we’re alright,” Stanley agreed. “You’re here!”

Grauntie Mabel made little cooing noise and hugged him tighter. “You are the cutest little things–the both of you. Oh fine, the three of you.” She chanced a glance at the baby goat requesting her attention.

Stanford squeezed her tight in a hug, as if she was now the only thing keeping him rooted to the spot. “I want to go home,” he blurted out.

Stanley looked at him, his eyes brows furrowed.

Stanford cleared his throat. “I want to go meet Waddles again. And, uh, I think I left some of my books there. So, I have to go back anyway.”

“Yeah,” Stanley agreed. “And you never told us how Fidds was doing _or_ the Shack! You’re supposed to tell us every day how things are goin’.”

“Well my apologies.” Mabel sat back and kept her hands on the boys’ shoulders. “We’re workin’ on it. I promise.” A sly grin spread across her features. “My bro-bro can get things done, you know. Say, do you remember what I told you? What would happen when I got here?”

Stanley hesitated. “Uh… you told us…” His eyes grew round. “You had a surprise for us! Where is it? What is it?”

“Calm down!” Grauntie Mabel stood up. “You two put your hands over your eyes. No peaking!”

The boys nodded and put their hands over their eyes. Stanley spread two fingers a bit to peak at her.

“You, too, Lee!”

Stanley giggled and shut his eyes tight.

Mabel opened up the bag at her side and plopped a sweater on top of both of them. “Open your eyes!”

The kids squirmed into their new sweaters and looked down. “LEE PINES” stitched across Stanley’s pinkish red sweater. “FORD PINES” stitched across Stanford’s baby blue sweater. On the backs, both bore the name “STAN”. Two beanies were put on their heads. Stanford’s was red with a gold six-fingered hand on it. Stanley’s with red with a gold mackerel on it. Mabel, grinning ear to ear, stated, “And Dippy-dog has another thing for you. Bundle up in the winter, Stans, because it gets a bit chilly in Gravity Falls in the winter.”

Eventually, Grunkle Dipper came back. He held in his hands two packages. Stanley took the red and white one labeled “STANLEY”. Stanford got the red and gold one labeled “STANFORD”.

Stanley tore open his package to reveal a pair of boxing gloves. Attached was a monthly membership to the gym in the Gravity Falls Community Center. “Whoa!” He put on the gloves. “Ha-ha! They fit like a charm!”

Stanford carefully opened his. Within it was a relatively thick book with a blank red cover and gold edges and spine. It was full of blank pages. A new pen and small set of graphite pencils was included as well as a thin gold sheet. “What?”

“I thought you’d want something to hold all your new discoveries in,” Grunkle Dipper admitted. “Or, you know, just notes or letters or whatever you want to put in it.”

“Wow.” Stanford looked at his hand and then set it on the cover. His hand was relatively small. It could fit on the cover with a few inches on all sides as room. He grinned. “We can have loads more adventures! _And_ I can write them all down!”

Stanley laughed. “Yeah! And I can scrapbook our adventures, just like Grauntie Mabel!”

“We’ll be the most unstoppable team!” Stanford agreed with a hard nod.

Grauntie Mabel stiffly got to her feet. “Now, who wants to go out for a bit of ice cream and a huge road trip?”

“I do!” The two voices became one. The boys followed their great aunt and uncle out into the sunlight, out to the blue glittery, sticker-covered car they knew so well.

The boys laughed and played in the backseat. But, as they rolled to a stop by “Pines Pawns”, their laughter died and their smiles started to fade. Grauntie Mabel, who was in the passenger seat as she “wasn’t allowed to drive under any circumstances” glanced back at them.

Grunkle Dipper stopped the car. “You two can stay inside the car, if you want.”

“Huh?” Stanley cocked his head.

“You don’t have to go inside,” Grunkle Dipper explained. “We’re just being formal.”

Stanford set his gaze. “I’ll go with you, Grunkle Dipper.”

Stanley nodded sharply. “Yeah! I’ll go, too.”

Gompers bleated.

Grauntie Mabel giggled. “Him, too? Well, okay.” Grauntie Mabel popped the door open and slipped out onto the street. Grunkle Dipper quickly took her hand and led her onto the sidewalk despite her complaints. Stanford and Stanley, holding hands, stood by their great aunt and uncle. The sign on the door read “CLOSED”. Grauntie Mabel squared her shoulders, put on a wide smile, and knocked on the door.

“We’re closed.” The gruff voice inside came in reciprocation.

Grauntie Mabel lowered her hand. “I know, Filly. But not to us you aren’t.”

There was a pause and a low complaint from the boys’ mother. The door opened to reveal their mother. She was dressed in a simple red dress with multiple gold loops around her wrist, hooped earrings, and a few bands around her fingers. Strands of hair escaped from the bun on her head. She looked at her aunt and uncle and then boys. A great smile lit up her tired, frazzled features. “Boys!”

The boys didn’t leave their great aunt’s shadow, but smiled up at her all the same. “Mom!”

Grunkle Dipper smiled uncomfortably. His gaze flicked every which way.

“Hey! My little Mae of sunshine!” Mabel held out her hand. When their mom took her hand, Grauntie Mabel pulled her in for a hug. “It’s so nice to see you!”

Mae, her eyes wide in shock, hugged her back. She relaxed and half-opened her eyes. “It’s nice to see you, Aunt Mabel.” She looked down at her boys and, as soon as Grauntie Mabel let go, gathered them up in her arms.

Stanley and Stanford wasted no time in returning the hug.

The door was filled as Filbrick appeared. His yellow pinstripe suit was just as orderly as ever over his neat, navy-blue, long-sleeved shirt. His hair was a bit ruffled and he seemed to have lost some sleep. Though, under those wide, square glasses of his and perpetually flat look, he was nearly impossible to read. Grunkle Dipper stopped looking around and trained his gaze on Filbrick.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorta a WIP that I never finished. I wrote a good half dozen "Post Weirdmaggedon" minifics as a sort of practice on what I'd do for the actual ending.
> 
> Also: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


End file.
